Myanmar court fines two newspaper editors for defamation

A Myanmar court on Tuesday fined two editors of a weekly newspaper 1 million kyat ($809) each after finding them guilty of violating the country's media law by insulting the president according to an Associated Press report on 21 July.
The case was one of several seen by press freedom advocates as an effort to intimidate the media ahead of a general election scheduled for November.
Nine other staff members of the weekly Myanmar Herald were acquitted in the case, which was filed by the Information Ministry last November after publication of an interview with a political analyst which insulted the president.
The paper's chief editor, Kyaw Swa Win, and the deputy chief editor, Arnt Khaung Min, were fined by a court in the capital, Naypyitaw, for violating the media law by printing articles affecting an individual's reputation.
The London-based human rights group Amnesty International said last month that the government's efforts to restrict freedom of expression had intensified over the past year.